The gift
by BardDown
Summary: "Its… Ah… Present! You know, for holidays and… Stuff."


"Do you guys normally give gifts, sir?"

MacTavish looked up from his newspaper at me like I had just asked for his underwear size.

"Ah, no, not usually. Why?"

"Just askin."

I looked out the window just in time to catch Ghost as he walked out of the mess hall. His walk was sharp, cutting easily through the deep snow. I noticed how his head was slightly down.

"Sir, whys Ghost so miserable all of a sudden?"

MacTavish turned to the window, following my gaze. He shook his head slowly and looked back to his paper.

"He gets like that during the holidays. Ever since he lost his family…."

He trailed off, letting me finish the explanation in my head. I nodded, the feeling of pity washing over me. Ghost was never the picture of happiness, but on this Christmas eve he seemed twice as bad. I smiled when an idea came to me. I chuckled lightly and shoved my hands in my pockets, thinking.

"What are you up to Roach?" MacTavish asked, catching my face. I had only been part of one four one for about a year, but my captain seemed to have me completely figured out. In my defense though, im not exactly complicated. Boobs, cigarettes, and cartoons take up probably 90 percent of my thinking on a good day.

"Nothing sir, what makes you think im up to something?"

He studied me for a few seconds, then sighed in amusement.

"Whatever you're going to do, be careful. If you piss Ghost off, _im_ the one whose going to have to clean you off the walls."

I nodded nervously when I realized he wasn't going to give any indication that he was kidding.

XXxXxXx

I opened the recreation door, trying to be as silent as possible. Ghost was sitting on the other side of the room, reading. I tip toed silently, letting my stealth training come into play as I balanced my surprise behind my back.

"What are you doing bug?"

He caught me before I was even half way across the room, without even looking up. Most people give me weird looks when I suggest he's really a ninja, but im sticking to it dammit. I mumbled curses to myself as I walked the rest of the way to his seat, my boots thumping loudly on the hard wood floor.

"Merry Christmas!" I announced, holding a small, colorfully wrapped present from behind my back. Ghost gave me one of those looks parents give their small children when they hand them a poorly drawn picture.

"…What?"

I laughed nervously, praying to god he wasn't going to break my nose. Iv pulled some stupid shit in my short time here, and Ghost hadn't run me over yet. That had to mean something.

"Its…. Ah… Present! You know, for holidays and…. Stuff."

Ghost shook his head and stood, sighing.

"Sorry bug, I don't celebrate Christmas."

"Oh, you're Jewish?"

"Nope, just a miserable arsehole. You were close, though."

With that he left, leaving me standing there with a present in my hand dumbly.

"He's going to take this fucking present even if I have to shove it up his jolly ass." I mumbled in annoyance, heading for the door myself.

XXxXxXx

Later that night I just gave up trying to find Ghost. The man seemed to literally disappear. Out of places to look and patience, I shoved the present into my jacket pocket and brought out my cigarettes. There was a small lake on the very outskirts of camp I usually went to for a smoke. The place smelled and was littered with trash, but you cant have everything I suppose.

I stopped behind a rock and crouched down when I spotted someone else sitting by the water.

It was Ghost.

He was sitting on the snow blanketed ground, smoking a cigarette of his own. It was probably to help silence his sobs, but it wasn't really working. Frustrated, he tossed it to the ground and wiped his eyes with his hand.

"I know you're there."

I froze, mortified. Maybe he was talking to someone else hiding behind a rock?

I held my post until he finally just turned to me, eyes red and tired.

"I can _see_ you, for bloody sakes!"

Man, my stealth training really sucked. Well, I might as well ease up on myself. Im a roach, not a cat. I walked out from my spot and approached Ghost like he was a sleeping lion. Finally, I sat down next to him. Instantly my ass went numb from the frozen ground. Ghost really needed to pick warmer places to have breakdowns. I turned to him, concerned.

"You okay?"

"Aye."

"…. Aren't you cold?"

"No."

Mr. Simon Riley everybody, the professional one word answer giver. Not sure what to say, I involuntary blurted the first thing that came to mind.

"Sooo, why you crying?"

He turned to me and raised an eyebrow. He laughed once and shook his head as he turned back to the lake.

"I cry sometimes. If I didn't, I would have snapped years ago."

That's…. Not healthy. I nodded anyways though. Im not really one to judge sanity, I still watch Spongebob on a regular basis and play with matches. Remembering the gift, I pulled it out of my pocket and presented it like it was a bar of gold. Ghost took one look at it and rolled his eyes. With his face masked Ghost would come off as annoyed to anyone else, but I had made an art out of reading my friends expressive eyes. They were amused, thankfully.

"If I open the bloody thing, will you leave me be?"

"No promises."

I dropped the gift in his lap, basically sealing his fate. With a defeated sigh he picked it up and began to open it.

It was a framed picture of him, MacTavish and I.

MacTavish was smirking with his hands on his hips, Ghost had his arms crossed over his chest, and I was standing in the middle, holding two bunny ears up behind Ghosts head.

"Holy hell," Ghost laughed softly, studying the picture "This was a few months ago, wasn't it? Meat had found an old camera and insisted we pose for a picture."

I nodded.

"Yup, I found this in my room the other day. I figured you would appreciate it."

He studied it for a few more seconds, then turned to me. I could see a grin under his mask.

"Why would you figure that, bug?"

I shrugged. Honestly, I didn't know. It was either the photo, or macaroni art.

"Cause…. Were a family, or some shit."

Ghost nodded and ruffled my hair playfully.

"Aye, bug, we are."


End file.
